In explosive compounds



' 2; The pulp cant m'r'rMAn, on nosrou, unssnonu'snrrs lm noys'msnr In sxrtosivs communes.

' Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 146,403, dated Dcccrnbc-r 9,1873; application filed.

- 'Angust 30,1873;

To all whom at may concern.-

Be. it known that I- CARL DITTMAR, of Boston, Massachusetts, ave invented aPreparation of, Vegetable Fiber in a new and dis tinguished manner for the manufactureofExplosive '(lom'pounds, of which the. following is a specification: a

1 use vegetable fiber of any kind, raw or manufactured, (asold linen or. cotton rags, &c.,) which I render'to a fine pulp in the same manner as it is done in the manufacture of paper, withsimilar machinery, by open fire, common steam or superheated steam, and chemicals. The greatest care must be taken.

to render the fiber chemically pure, by bleacl 1- ing it and treating it with acids and alka'lies,

and outwashing those chemicals; after that I prepare this chemically pure pulp in dilt'ereut ways.

1. I press it in sheets of about one-sixteenth part of an inch in thickness. This thickness may be lessened-or increased to suit the grains to the purposes to which the powdershall ,be'

used. These plates or sheets are first dried thoroughly, and then passed under a punching-machine with punches of the same diameter as the thickness of the sheets. The cylinders received in this manner I use for the best kind of powder. The remainder or .whole sheets of the pulp pass through rollers with cutters around the'periphery--one pair of cutters cutting it in one direction, ano'iher pair cuttin" it across in a line at aright angle to the former, so as .to give grains of a square form; or the pulp may be formed into grains by any other method. The grains I treat now with a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acid, in-

the same manner as it is done in the manufaeture of gun-cotton.

the drying process, so that it cannot bake together into large lumps. The small lumps pass through a grinding-mill, and are to be ground to the finest dust. This dust is treated, as above, with nitric and sulphuric acids.

3. The pulp is soaked in a solution of sugar,

or mannite, or amylum, or inuline, or similar substances, pressed in sheets and cut, as above, or formed into grains by any other iuethod,

,or ground to dust after it has been dried, and

is driedand'snrred up durrng--- an then treated with'thc mixture of nitric and sulphuric acid, as DOW-3. The greatest care has to be taken their to wash the superfluous acid out again,which is more difiicult than by the former two processes. After this has been 'done, it is soaked in a'solution of soda, pressed out, and then soaked in a solution of nitrate of potash, or chlorate of .potasb; or similar substances, and then carefully dried. It is ready then for use; or it can ,be soaked after that, for blasting purposes only, with nitroglycerine, &o. The combination of the vegetable fiber with sugar, &c., gives a very powerful explosive, and overcomes the difficulty in preparing sugar, &c.,' alone with acids.

47. The pulp may be treated with a solution 'of soda, or nitrate of potasluor chlorate of potash, or similar chemicals; solution of sugar may also be added; then put up in sheets and grains, as above, or ground to l net, and then soaked with. nitro-glycerine, or similarj'substances; or the sodaand saltpeter may be first giving a better kind of powder. This kind'is only for blasting piu'poses,'or it can be used to fill'shells with, the great elasticity of the material preventing it-froin exploding prematurely from the shockwhen fired in acunnon.

4 After the pulp has been treated with the solution of soda, saltpeter, sugar, 820., it is pressed in forms of a cylindrical size of diiien ent diameter,.-so as to form a cartridge for blasting purposes, the forms having a pin on one end, so as to leave a hole in th'ecartridge for the insertion of the fuse or cap. vThese cylinders are dried thoroughly, and soaked thenwith nitro-glyccrine, or'similar substances,

tion. The powder-dust resulting from the processes Nos. 3 and 4 may be pressed in cylin ders in the same manner and coated with a then coated with-a u aterproofi -prepara-.

pexplosive, combined with and dried again, to be used as itis, or soaked with nitro-glycerine, 8:0. In both cases it is out insuitable pieces, and these rolled up tight, so as to give smaller or larger cartridges for guns or for drill-holes, or, if pressed flat, for crevices. These cartridges can be coated, as above, with a water-proof preparation.

All the within-mentioned compounds, formed without the use of nitro-glycerine, can be used for themanufacture of fireworks, chiefly .sa- 10011 and theater fireworks, as being better adapted for these purposes than common 1)O:1-'

der', in giving out neither smoke nor smell, and also for gunning or artillery purposes,in leaving no residuum-and requining no cleansing while in use. All these compounds can be kept wet for any length of time, and therefore be stored and transported with safety in the largest quantities, like common merchandise, or even'better than that, being impossible "to be set on fire or exploded by concussion.

Before use it may be dried'by spreading the compound out in the sun or in a warm room, or by any other drying process. The grains remain whole if kept under water, which is not the case when gun-cotton is. pnlped and grained. Grains made by my process have also a greater resistance against any mechanical treatment, by.handling, transporting, &c., no'dust resulting from it.

The difierent explosive compounds manufactured in the difi'erent ways above described may be mixed together in different proportions, so as in give difl'crent strength, as may be required. The different" compounds may be 1mired with prepared or unprepared charcoa In preparing the vegetable fiber in the manner above described, I make a very powerful the greatest safety, asthe fineness to whichF'e vegetable fiber is reduced by the destruction of the vegetable texture before the treatment with chemicals allows a more thorough action of thechemicals, giving therefore more strength and uni formity, and, as the great elasticity of the material gives the greatest resistance against concussion, it is safcr'than any othersimilar explosive, Being made up'in grains, cylinders, or cartridges of any size or form, either coatedor not coated with a water-proof'material, ready for use, ,lt is Yelyconvenicnt in the practice. p

Everyone of the above-described conlponuds can be fired by means of a percussion-cap, or, like common powder. with a fuse, when well confined.

The vegetable fiber prepared as herein described is the best adapted substance. to be combined with nitro-glycerine, as it takes and holds as much nitro-glycerine as the infusorial earth, having the and adding to the strength of the compound, being resolved ingases by the explosion-- I claim as my invention- 1. The herein-described process oftreatment of vegetable fiber, the same consisting in re dueing the fiber to a pulp, then compressing the pulp into a sheet or other compact form,

and then reducing said sheet to a granulated,

or powdered condition, and treating the same in this condition with an acid or acids for the pi se of rendering it explosive. substantially as escribed.

2. Vegetable fiber'preparcd with r,- solurioia of sugar, or mannitc, or amylum, or inuline, or

other substances, substantially as herein de-.

scribed, and rendeled explosive by nitric acid. CARL DITTMAR.

Witnesses ALBERT W. BROWN, EDWIN W. BROWN.

preference of not leaving from twenty to twenty-five per cent. residuum, 

